Golfer&#39;s grip guide



Get. 2, 1956 c. D. STRICKLER GOLFERS GRIP GUIDE Filed Feb. 11. 1953 CarlD. Sivic k/er INVENTOR,

ATTORNEK GOLFERS GRIP Carl D. Strickler, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Application February 11, 1953, Serial No. 336,308

1 Claim. (Cl. 273-166) The present invention relates to means forguiding a golf player, in positioning his hands upon the handle of agolf club.

Most professional golf players and teachers agree that one of theessential requirements for good golf playing is a proper grip upon theclub. The golf teacher or pro, spends much time on each pupil, not onlyin teaching him how to properly grip a golf club, but in training him tobe able to repeatedly grip the club in exactly the same manner. Theprevalent trouble with beginners seems to be that they cannotcontinuously hold a correct mental picture of exactly how the clubshould be grasped. The result is that as soon as their lesson is over,and they start playing without the presence of the teacher, their gripslightly changes with each repeated shot, until before long, it ceasesto even remotely simulate the grip which they have been taught to becorrect for their particular hands, for their particular stature, fortheir arm length, and their particular natural stance and swmg.

The device of the present invention is not intended to be a cure-all,the mere use of which acts to insure all wearers that their grips willthereafter be perfect. Instead, it is intended to be used only after aperson has been taught the proper relationship of his fingers to theclub handle. \Vhen this has once been established for the particularperson, then only can the proper positioning of the present guide bedetermined. When this has once been done, however, the pupil canthereafter obtain a proper grip by properly installing two or more ofthe devices on his fingers before starting to play. The present guidemerely acts as a reminder to the player, each time he grips a golf club,and will eventually develop for himself a habit of proper grippingtechnique.

An important object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a guidewhich may be Worn on the fingers of a golf player to remind him theproper relationship of those fingers, and others, to the club and toeach other.

It is a well known fact, among golf pros, that in order to properlyexecute many types of golf shots, the player must have the contactualfeel of the club against his fingers. For instance, many good golferscannot accurately execute many of their well known and best shots whilewearing gloves. This is because the gloves prevent them from actuallyfeeling the club handle properly.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a gripguide which may be worn on a golfers fingers, but which will stillenable him to feel the club against his bare flesh.

A further object is to provide a set of elastic sleeves adapted to beworn on a plurality of fingers of each hand, each sleeve being formedwith a slot of a size to conform to the contour of the periphery of agolf club handle whereby the player may feel the contact of the fingerswith the golf handle through all of the slots and thus know when hisgrip of the club is correct.

nited States Patent 2,765,174 Patented Dot. '2', 1956 An additionalobject is to provide a grip guide which is comfortable to wear.

A further object is to provide a guide, which may be selectivelypositioned on any finger of either hand, and between any desired twojoints of such finger.

Other objects will be apparent from the following description when takenin conjunction with the accompanying single sheet of drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a perspective View of a person's hands, upon the fingers ofwhich several of the present grip guides have been operativelyinstalled, the dotted lines illustrating a golf club handle about to begripped by the hands;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of oneof the guides;

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view through one of the grip guides,the dotted lines representing the relative position of a golf clubhandle; and,

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken longitudinally through the gripguide, the dotted lines illustrating the relative positions of a golfclub handle, and a persons finger upon which the guide is positioned.

Like characters of reference designate like parts in those figures ofthe drawings in which they occur.

In the drawings:

The reference numeral 1 indicates, as a whole, an open ended tubularbody or sleeve made of soft resilient rubber, and adapted to be placedupon any desired one of a persons fingers, and when so worn, adapted tobe placed between the knuckles or joints of the finger. The body or gripguide 1 has an elongated through perforation, slot, or socket 2, whichextends circumferentially thereof, in contradistinction tolongitudinally thereof.

Longitudinally the slot 2 is great enough to extend circumferentiallyaround the sleeve 1 sufficiently far enough to allow a portion of thehandle 3 to contact the players finger, as is shown by dotted lines,Fig. 3. The wall of the slot 2 is sloped or beveled upwardly andoutwardly, see Fig. 4, to permit contiguous contact of the wall definingthe slot with the arc of the golf club handle 3.

The grip guide 1, or a plurality thereof, may be placed on a personsfingers as illustrated in Fig. 1, so that part of the peripheral surfaceof a club handle 3 will nest in each of the indentations or slots 2, asshown. The guides 1 may be worn around the finger between the middleknuckle and the palm, as illustrated, or it may be worn between thefirst and second knuckles, in accordance with the grip problem which itis attempted to solve.

Any time the golf teacher finds his pupil is having trouble inremembering where to place one of his fingers, he may properly place oneof the guides on the finger at the place where the golf club crosses thesame. This guide will thereafter serve to remind the pupil the properrelationship of that finger and the club.

It is pointed out that the normal club gripping pressure of the fingers,acts to force the club into contact with the finger through the slot 2,and consequently, the guide does not impair the players feel of the clubin his hands.

Once the player has been taught how many of the guides 1 are needed forhis particular grip, and the particular location of those guides oncertain ones of his fingers, he can thereafter install them himself.With the guides 1 properly installed upon the hands, they act asconstant reminders as to where the certain fingers should contact theclub. It is pointed out that, quite often, the proper positioning of onefinger by use of a guide 1, usually or quite often naturally brings thenext finger into proper position. Hence, it is seldom necessary to wearone of the guides on each club contacting finger of either hand.

Obviously the invention is susceptible to some change or alterationwithout defeating its practicability, and I therefore do not wish to beconfined to the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings and describedherein, further than I am limited by the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A grip finder for correctly positioning a plurality of fingers of eachhand of a golf player when gripping a golf club handle, comprising: aset of individual disconnected units simultaneously worn on said fingersof both hands of the golf player, each unit composed of an open endedelastic sleeve of soft rubber adapted to be frictionally engaged arounda corresponding one of said fingers and positioned for contacting a golfclub handle, the length of said sleeve being less than the distancebetween any two joints of said finger, said sleeve having acomparatively thick wall and having an elongated circumferentiallyextending slot therethrough positioned for receiving a peripheralportion of a golf club handle A a therein and permitting contact of thefinger with a golf club handle through said slot, the wall of saidsleeve de fining said slot being diver-gently tapered outwardly formingan arc complemental with the periphery of the golf club handle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS617,929 Fowble Jan. 17, 1899 943,894 Rightrnire Dec. 21, 1909 1,257,846Gregory Feb. 26, 1918 1,479,771 Campbell Ian. 1, 1924 1,755,014 MorrisonApr. 15, 1930 1,863,960 Aronson June 21, 1932 1,885,572 Wood a Nov. 1,1932 2,129,496 Hollingsworth Sept. 6, 1938 2,309,476 Patterson Jan. 26,1943 2,447,328 Gerrits Aug. 17, 1948 2,465,136 Troccoli Mar. 22, 1949

